ROCHELLE — A Thursday hail storm here stripped cotton from stalks on several thousand acres of land, according to Wilcox Extension Agent Tim Smith.

The storm which covered about a 20-30 square mile area was “devastating to the cotton in the area,” Smith said. As many as 6-8 farmers were affected by the hail which reportedly was golf ball size and possibly even larger, the agent added.

Sorghum and sillage as well as several broiler houses in the county also had some damage, Smith said.

Wind and hail, he indicated, stripped leaves from trees and broke some power poles south of the city limits.

While Crisp and Dooly Extension Agents Tucker Price and Chuck Ellis knew of no hail in their counties, they did say that anywhere from one to five inches of rain fell in their areas Wednesday and Thursday. This followed at least 30 days of almost no rain at all.

“It would have been good if it could have been spread out,” Price said.

Cotton, especially in those fields that had already been defoliated, will begin to degrade the longer it’s exposed, Ellis said. Some bolls actually were knocked off the plants, Price added.

For farmers who still had peanuts in the ground, the rain will help them dig the legumes, provided they can get in their fields in the next few days, Ellis explained.

“If the nuts were ready to dig and the field is so wet that the producer can’t get digging equipment in soon, he will lose quality,” the Dooly agent said.

“Disease also will be enhanced the longer farmers have to wait to dig,” Price said.

Those nuts that were already on top of the ground when the rains came probably will be all right if they can be picked in a day or two, Ellis added.

Overall, he said, “farmers were glad to see the rain. It will be beneficial for winter grazing and cover crops.”

“It was a good rain that we needed badly,” Price echoed.